Stolen Property
by Spydercry
Summary: The last time my parents saw me, I was just two months old. I'm now 15 years old. For my parents though, it's only been six months since I was stolen away from them. I want to return to them, but how can I when I'm not the baby they want back so desperately? I am not the daughter they want but I am what they will get. Rated M for language, some violence, and adult content
1. Chapter 1

It was an odd sensation, feeling him on top of me. There were times that I would dream about it, but it's something totally different to actually feel it. And there he was, looking down at me with those dark eyes of his through a fringe of his pink hair with a look that only a man can have. I wasn't sure what all I was supposed to do in this situation, but I know for a fact that I want to feel him all over me. From the moment his lips touched my bare skin I felt a thrill go through me. From the top of my head all the way down to my toes it traveled, and it was the most amazing thing ever.

He started out soft and slow, knowing that we were both new at this. That was perfectly fine with me, it felt more intimate anyway. He kissed me softly down my neck to my shoulder and then down my chest and my stomach. When he reached my lower stomach, it gave a little jolt that I couldn't help. It felt like my insides were dancing at his touch there. I reached down and placed a hand on the top of his head to run my fingers through his hair and he raised his eyes to meet mine. His look was questioning, asking me if I wanted him to go on, I didn't need to saw anything at that point. I simply reached down and slip the last of my clothing off for him, receiving a dark smile from him that sent more thrills down my body.

I knew this day was coming, for the last few months. From the first time I knew that I loved him to the moment that he said three words to me that light up my entire being like the noon day sun, and then to the moment he asked me a question that I was ready for. And now, here we were. We belonged together, now and forever. I am not Lucy Heartfillia anymore, I'm Lucy Dragneel now. And on this night, the first time that I allowed myself to be with him not just in spirit, but also in body was the most incredible and sensual….

"GROSS!" I cried out, slamming the diary closed and throwing it across the room where it hit a boy about my age in the head. He shouted and held a hand to his head then turned his angry gaze to me.

"Dammit Nashi, if that thing pisses you off so much why in the hell are you still reading it?" He growled at me as he stomped away.

 _Because it's all I have of them._ I said it in my head. It was true, my mother's diary was the only thing I had of hers right now so I wanted to read it as much as I could and learn everything I could about her.

If you are reading this and you saw that last thought, you probably think that my mother is dead. She's not, she's alive and well in Fiore with her husband and their guild doing whatever it is that they do in that world. I was born there, as well as the rest of my friends here. But then before we all turned two years old some dick bag stole all of us from them.

The guy that got hit with my mom's diary? His name is Silver, him and his twin sister Lynne were taken on the same day I was. Simon was taken almost a month before anyone else, along with his younger sister Elena.

There was ten of us total and our lives have in in chaos. We didn't meet each other until a few months ago, and none of knew if our parents missed us. You see, when we were taken from our parents we were placed in the bubble things that are just outside the world that we were all born in. We had no idea how to get out of these bubbles, and no idea if there was another way in. We didn't even know if anyone else knew if we were even here. On top of that, found out the hard way that time moved differently there. For us, it's been years. For example I just turned fifteen, but we learned recently that it's only been six months or so for our parents. Did they miss us? Did they still want us back? Better question…would they want us back knowing that we were so much older and all the hell that we went through?

 **Natsu**

When I woke up this morning I didn't think that I would be breaking my back to dig up stupid weeds. But when Lucy decided that she wanted a garden, and after everything that happened in the last year, she got a garden. While she sat on a stool and worked on her little garden map of where everything was going to go I was busting my ass with the stupid rake and hoe digging out the weeds and making the path that the seeds were going to go. I made sure that I didn't complain, she smiled for the first time in months when she told me about the garden.

"Hey, Natsu?" she called out to me. I stood up and stretched my back out as I turned over to her.

"What's up?" I asked, begging her to keep talking. I hoped that it kept on, I don't think I could take her silence again.

"What do you think about an apple tree up there close to the road?" she had her face in her note book, so she didn't see me grimace.

"I don't think that's a good idea. If you want an apple tree it would probably do better in the back of the house, it would get more sun."

She looked up at me and flashed that smile that I loved so much. "Oh that's perfect! Thank you!" then she bent back down and started to scribble more.

I sighed and touched the top of the hoe handle to my forehead. Yes, I would give anything…everything, to keep that smile on her face. Because I knew that I never wanted to hear her scream like she did that night, ever again.

 **Six months ago**

We were dead asleep, it was probably somewhere around three or four in the morning when I felt the bed shift as Lucy got up. I could hear our Nashi crying from her crib that was next to our bed. I didn't bother to get up, she was hungry and there was nothing I could do about it. Lucy lifted our daughter from her bed and took her out of the room to feed her. I closed my eyes again and let myself drift back off, knowing that those two were just fine.

I don't know how much time had passed before the most horrible sound ripped me from my dreams. It was a scream, and I knew it was Lucy, but it was unlike anything I had ever heard. From two rooms away I could hear and feel the pain, the terror, and the heartache in that scream. I scrambled out of the bed and ran to the living room where my wife was and saw her standing in the middle of the room. She had Nashi's blanket clutched to her chest and was screaming over and over again. I didn't need to ask what happened. The guild had already been through nine abductions over the last eighteen months. I just never thought it would happen to us. Not now, not after we finally had our chance to be happy. Our child, our Nashi, who was just two months old, was now gone from us. If it was like any of the others, the chances of us finding her were very slim.

 **Present**

I shook the thoughts out of my mind and looked back to my wife. We looked, of course. We all did. We were still looking. Almost every other guild in Fiore were helping us look, but so far there had been nothing. It was driving all of us crazy.

Some of us were starting to move on though. For instance, Laxus and Mira just announced that they were expecting again. I think the entire guild wanted to run up to them and hold her mouth shut. No one wanted to say it, but we were all terrified that this next child would be taken as well. I think there was now an unspoken rule that when this child was born everyone was going to stay at the guild hall until the kid was old enough to do magic and fight.

As I stared at my wife an idea crept into my head. It was a crazy idea, but it was also one that kept making its way into my thought for the last several months. Now that she was smiling again, maybe I could just pull it off. So, with my shoulders squared up in determination, I tossed the hoe to the ground and strode up to Lucy with a purpose. She heard me, but only when I was almost right on top of her. She looked up at me with a startled expression and tried to say something but I forced the words out of her mouth when I slipped one hand behind her head and the other around her back and crashed my lips onto hers.

She gave a started sound and tried to fight me, but soon enough she was moving her lips in time with mine. The second I let my lips open, she pushed her tongue through and let it dance with mine.

It had been far too long since I felt this. This passion and warmth from the woman I loved. It was enough to send me over the edge, but I was careful and made myself pull back just enough.

I removed my hand from the back of her head and moved it down and I took hold of the back of her thigh while my other hand did the same. Hands in position, I lifted her and her legs wrapped around my waist. The second she did that all of the blood drained from the top of my body down to my lower limbs. I gave her a low growl that vibrated my chest against hers and she moaned lightly into my mouth. Yes, it had been far too long for the both of us.

I thought about walking us back into the house, but there was an urgency in the way Lucy kissed me that said she didn't want to wait that long. I made it as far as the edge of the garden and to a pile of weeds that I had pulled out of the ground before I set her down.

I sat back on my heels and looked down at her. Her legs were still around my waist and her butt was just at the edge of my knees, making her lower back lift off the ground slightly. The angle made her top slip up to reveal her taut stomach that didn't even look like she had a child eight months ago. Even if it did, I would still find her beautiful. I let my hands run up her side with my thumbs making invisible line on her stomach until I hit her breasts. Once there, I stopped. She was always so sensitive about her breasts. I'm not saying that she didn't want me to touch them, it's the opposite actually. Her skin was super sensitive there, especially since the pregnancy, so it drove her absolutely wild any time I touched her there.

She slid her top over her head and tossed it behind her, leaving me kneeling there with my hands on her, thumbs just under her glorious chest, with her eyes on mine and a look that I hadn't seen in months. It was a look that said _I need you_ and it made the need in myself build up even more.

As much as I wanted to drag it out, I knew that my body wouldn't last that long. I needed her, I needed the feel of her. Her bare skin under mine, and the feeling of her body writhing and pulsating around me. I needed it just as much as she needed me.

The sun was setting when Lucy and I sat down with Happy to eat our dinner. I was always happy to eat at the guild, but since Lucy and I got married she preferred to cook herself and made sure that I didn't go to the guild for food. I couldn't complain, she was a pretty damn good cook.

I gave up trying to help her in the kitchen that first time, so now I am content to sit my ass at the table and watch her with a stupid grin on my face while I watcher my wife cook. Before she was taken from us, Lucy used to hum while she cooked. After, she stopped humming. She stopped doing a lot of things really. But today, it was there again. My grin today was there because as she moved around the kitchen she hummed a song. It took me a while to figure out what song it was, but then I realized it was the first song we danced to at our wedding.

Happy noticed this too. He had his own smile in place while he watched her. All too soon I was pulled out of my wonderful new bliss when something hit the window by the door. Lucy looked up, but I motioned for her to stay there and I went to check it out.

I opened the door carefully and looked out, keeping all of my senses open and searching for any and all signs of trouble. I was about to close the door back, annoyed at getting worked up over nothing, when I noticed an envelope on the ground. It was addressed to Lucy and I, but had no other writing on it. I picked it up and walked back inside more confused than ever.

When Lucy saw me, she put her spoon down and came up to me. "What's that?" she asked, seeing the envelope in my hand.

"I have no idea. It was just lying out there under the window." I handed it over to her and she turned it over in her hands. There was nothing written on the back, but there was a wax seal that sealed the envelope shut that had the image of some kind of bird in flight. Lucy stuck a finger under the seal and with a quick flick broke it and lifted the flap up.

The paper inside was thick, and heavy, and there were only five words written on it.

 _ **I know where they are**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Lucy**

 **Six months ago**

I felt like I was floating. It was like I was suspended in the air with nothing holding me, but yet I stayed there. I could feel people all around me, whispering to me and trying to get me to land but my body refused to. I couldn't. I couldn't feel anything solid around me, even though I could see hands grasping me and trying to pull me back. I think the reason I didn't land was because I didn't want to. I knew that the moment I did I would be back to reality and facing the truth of what happened. My heart couldn't take it, and the rest of my body knew that. So there I was, floating through the air while my friends tried everything they could to save me.

Somehow, I felt my body lower. I glanced down and saw an arm held across my stomach and I knew it was him. He was pulling me back. I fought him, tried to push his arm off of me, but it was like an iron bar that was welded to my body. From somewhere I could head him, his voice clear but still far away. "Don't do this" I heard him say. There was a tremor in there, threatening to come out but he was fighting it. "I can't do this without you." He lost the fight, I could hear the sorrow and grief there. It tore at me, made me feel like my entire being was being pulled apart. It was then I surrendered to him.

I drew in a deep, shuddering breath and felt the hot tears falling down my face when my mind cleared up. I was in a bed in the guild infirmary, he was lying beside me with his arms drawn around me and holding me as tightly as he could with his face buried in my neck. I could hear the quiet sobs that escaped his throat and his body shook, making mine vibrate. I reached a hand up and grasped his arm under my chin. He tensed but otherwise didn't move. A moment of quiet passed and then I turned to face him and we both cried out our broken hearts. She was gone, our little Nashi was gone.

 **Present**

I ran to the front of the house and threw the door open so hard it hit the side of the house with a thud and caused the window to crack. I ran off the porch and stood in the middle of the front yard and spun around, searching for whoever left that card. I couldn't see anything.

On my fourth spin, I was caught by Natsu. He held my shoulders and stared intently into my eyes. "I need you to calm down." He told me, his voice careful.

I wanted to slap him, but I took a deep breath instead and attempted to steady myself. When I saw Happy come out of the house with the note held in her paw I felt myself stagger again. I stomped over and snatched the note from the cat's paw and read it again, and again, and again. I knew that it could mean anything, that it didn't mean whoever sent it was talking about my baby, but for some reason that was where my mind took it. I could feel Natsu behind me, ready to reach out again, but I whirled around and began to scream to the forest around us. "WHERE ARE YOU!" I shouted, my anger taking control of me. "WHERE IS MY BABY?" my voice cracked and I felt the first tear leak from my eye. Natsu tried to grab me again but I shoved him off. "GIVE ME MY BABY BACK!" He caught me then, his arms locking around me. I struggled against him but he wasn't relenting. I just screamed my words out into the air. "I WANT MY BABY BACK! GIVE HER BACK! YOU BASTARD! GIVE HER BACK TO ME!"

I ended up kneeling on the ground with Natsu at my back, his arms still around me and my face down. I couldn't stop the sounds from leaving my throat, and even though I couldn't hear anything from him, I knew he was just as upset as I was. He channeled it differently though. His entire body vibrated with rage.

When I calmed down, he refused to let go of me, and I didn't want him to. We just sat there and let our emotions take over us for a while until Happy walked up to us. He was quiet but there was something in that silence that made Natsu turn to him. "What is it?" his voice was raw like he was the one screaming and not me.

He opened his mouth but nothing came out, so he closed it and swallowed, then opened it again. "I think we should go to the guild." He told us.

Natsu narrowed his eyes but then shook his head. "Why bother. That card was probably just some sick joke from someone that hates me."

"I don't think it is." The cat said. He held the card out to Natsu so that the five offending words was facing him. "Look at the words."

Natsu did, and then he shook his head again. "What am I supposed to be looking at?"

"It says 'they'." Happy said, waving the card at Natsu. "The person who wrote this said 'they' not her or even her name."

When the words hit me, I sat up and let the cat have the full weight of my gaze. "What are you trying to say?"

"I think we should go to the guild."

I sighed when he didn't elaborate any further. But Natsu and I both realized a long time ago that sometimes it was best to just humor the cat.

 **Makarov**

Chaos. Insanity. Pure, utter madness. There was no other way to describe the things that were happening to this guild lately. When Levy ran in with the envelope in her hands and demanded to know what the hell was going on, I had no idea that the day would become this. First Levy, then Gray, Erza, Mira, Evergreen, and finally Lucy. Their husbands where with them, of course, but it was the mothers that demanded answers. Although I couldn't call Gray a mother, but Juvia was, well, she wasn't well.

Right now, everyone was arguing about the damn cards. Who sent them? Did this person have the kids? Or did they just know where they were? Why did he send them? What was going on? The questions were never-ending, but they never had been since the first child had been taken. I felt my chest give a small twinge at the memory. Of course it would do that, the first child taken was my great-grandson.

I sighed and tilted the cup back to drain it. When I set the cup down, I saw Lucy sitting alone at the end of the bar. Natsu was with the others trying to get any information out of the cards but Lucy was just sitting there. She had her hands in her lap and was staring at the bar top without really seeing it. I decided to make my way to her and sat down with my legs dangling over the edge of the bar and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at me and her eyes made my heart break. She closed them and then looked back down at the bar. "It feels like I'm losing her all over again." She was quiet, and I understood that she didn't want her husband to hear her. I was going to reply but then the guild hall doors flew in and a soaking wet Juvia was standing there.

Everyone went silent as we stared at her. It was strange to see her there, after all for the last nine months she hadn't said a word or even left the house she shared with Gray. But there she was, drenched from head to toe and a look of fury painted all over her face.

Gray eased his way over to her, a hand held out to her. "Juvia?" he asked. "What are you doing?" he reached her finally and touched her face with the outstretched hand. With the other one he leaned down and took her hand and held it to his chest.

"I heard you." She growled at him.

"What are you talking about?" He let his hand at her face fall and grasped her other hand. He brought that to his chest as well. He stared at her, confused.

"I heard you tell me." Her words were strained and clipped. It almost seemed like someone else was making her talk. "You said, you said." She yanked her hands back from him and then stumbled. "WHERE ARE THEY?" she screamed at him. A look of comprehension crossed his face then, and he lowered his hands to his sides.

"I don't know where they are. But all of us received a card that said someone knows where they are. I told you that, before I told you I was coming to the guild to see if anyone else got something like it as well."

With a wail, Juvia fell to the floor. Her entire body just crumpled and she ended up in a ball. Gray dropped to his knees to gathered her up in his arms and held her close to him. "This doesn't make any sense, gramps." He turned red eyes back to me. "Why now? And like this? Cards that just show up out of thin air?"

I wanted to give him an answer, but I didn't have one to give. I just looked back at him, and stayed silent. That is, until a crash turned every head in the room to the bar.

Lucy was on the floor, her hands up like she had been reaching out for something but were now frozen. Natsu rushed over to her and held her head between his hands. He said her name over and over again but she didn't even look at him. I could see her mouth moving, but the words were lost under Natsu's frantic voice. Finally he stopped talking and then he froze as well. "What are you saying?"

She lifted her face to him with an expression that was foreign. "I thought I was dreaming." She said.

"Dreaming about what?"

"That night, I was so tired and she wouldn't go to sleep. So I pulled out my diary to ready to her. I thought I fell asleep for a moment because when I opened my eyes she was gone. But I didn't. I remember it now, I blinked." She turned that look to me then. "I was holding her in my arms and I blinked and then she was gone."

Gray stood up with a limp Juvia in his arms. "You mean like a teleporting?" he asked.

"That would make sense." Laxus spoke up. He had been at the other end of the bar with Mira, trying to not get too worked up. "None of us could find any trail of the kids. If they were teleported out it would explain why that was."

Natsu let go of Lucy and stood up as well. "I could never find a scent of any of them outside of the homes." He turned to me, his eyes stabbing into mine like daggers. "If someone took all of them that way, they could be anywhere in the world."

I returned his look with one just as fierce and then stood up on the bar. "Laxus!" I called out, then jumped down. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?" he asked, following behind me.

"To my office. We are going to contact the magic council. We have something worth following now."

Finally, FINALLY we had a lead that meant something. It wasn't much, but it was something. If I could let the council know about this power, they might be able to track it, or at least try to track powers that were similar. I didn't even know if they could do that, but I still had to tell them. It was a lead, and it HAD to be followed.

 **Nashi**

 _I was alone again. It was a common thing for me lately. I didn't mind it to be honest, it was a hell of a lot better than when they came for me. I always knew when they were coming. I could hear their footsteps outside my cell and my heart would race just from that sound. For now, though, I just enjoyed the quiet._

 _My back was up against the corner of my windowless cell and I had my legs stretched out in front of me. My head was back, resting in the crease where the two walls met and my eyes were closed as I imagined being somewhere I was free. I always did that, when I was alone like this. I helped to pass the time and to also not let myself be driven insane. This time, I was back where I was supposed to me. I was with my parents and we were swimming in a pond. I had never been in a body of water bigger than a small box that was my bathtub, but in my fantasies I loved the water. We swam and played, and I laughed like I never had before. When I looked back at my parents their faces were nothing but a blur, I didn't know what they looked like, so how could I put a face to them?_

 _There was a scrape. And then there was a bang. I opened my eyes to the darkness of my home and pulled my knees up when I heard the dreaded sounds. They were coming for me._

 _When the door opened I shielded my eyes from the intense light and then felt hands roughly grab my ankles and then drag me out. I started screaming, but it never did any good. I reached out with both hands to grab anything and everything I passed, trying to hold on and not let them take me there. But anything I was able to hold onto was kicked out of my hands. My nails dug into the earthen floor making tracks behind me, and I screamed until my throat bled as the forced me back into the arena._

I could feel my body jerking and writhing on my bed, but it wasn't until I heard someone shouting my name that I finally woke up. I lay there, panting and dripping sweat while the memory faded from me. It had been weeks since I had a nightmare like that.

I shifted my eyes to the window above me and stared at the moon that was partially hidden behind the trees. The little bit of light it let into the room was just enough to let me know that the window was there, but not so much so that it was too bright. It was just enough for me. I didn't like bright lights.

I touch on my arm brought my attention to my roommate that had woken me up. Lila was kneeling by the side of my bed, her hair standing up in places from her sleeping but her eyes were wide open and alert.

"I'm sorry." I told her. I sat up and ran my hands over my face and took a few deep breaths. The side of the bed dipped down letting me know that she sat down next to me.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. You remember my nightmares right?" I could tell she was trying to comfort me, but her small shudder let me know that maybe her nightmares weren't done either.

"I know, I just thought that they were gone. I hadn't had one in weeks." I threw my soaked blanket off of me and got up. My dresser was across the room, but the room itself was small enough that two steps brought me to it. I pulled open the top drawer and retrieved a new set of clothing and started to change.

"You know that's not how it works. Pops told us that it could take years for us all to get better." Her voice was so small that I barely heard her. But she was right. Pops told us when he first brought us all together that the pain we went through could take years for us to get past. I hated that it could take that long.

"I know that too." With dry clothes on, I tossed my old ones into the hamper by the door and then stood next to my bed. The sheets were soaked also. And I didn't have any clean one yet, they were all in the laundry room because SOMEONE didn't do their job yesterday. I sighed and then sat on the floor.

Lila chuckled then stood and took a handful of my shirt, forcing me to stand. She walked me over to her bed and climbed in, moving herself so she was on the far side against the wall facing me. I gave her a small smile and then climbed in after her.

For a while we just lay there, looking at each other. Lila's eyes started to drift closed but she kept forcing them back open. After a while, a question popped into my head. "Do you ever think about them?"

"About who?" she asked, he eyes were closed now and her voice was soft and drowsy but she was still awake.

"Our parents. Do you ever wonder if they still want us?"

"All the time. Gunner thinks I'm a moron for that, but I can't help it." She forced her eyes open to look at me again. "I know they want us."

"How?"

"I just do. I know that my mother and father are back in our world still trying to get us home. And I also know they we will find them one day."

"How can you be so sure? I mean, pops has been trying for years to get us back to them and he's failed every time."

"I read the stories, Nashi, I know that they will stop at nothing to get us back because that is who they are." She reached out and grabbed my hand, giving it a good squeeze. "Trust in them, and trust in us. We WILL see them again."

She gave me another smile then closed her eyes again. Before I could get her to say anything else she was fast asleep. I closed my eyes as well, but the thoughts kept creeping in. I imagined meeting them for the first time, only instead of being greeted with cheers and happy tears I was greeted with disgust and anger. I covered my head with the blanket and cried myself to sleep, again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Lucy**

I was in the kitchen doing some cleaning, trying to keep myself distracted. It had been 2 days since we got the cards and so far no one knew anything new. I didn't honestly expect anything to come from the damn things but I still hoped that there would be something. Since there was nothing, here I was, standing at a sink and washing a plate for the third time today and letting my mind go somewhere I shouldn't have. "FUCK" I screamed and slammed the plate to the ground, causing it to shatter. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!" I kept screaming and finding things to throw until Natsu ran in and started shouting at me to stop. He eventually had to lock my arms to my waist in order to stop me.

We stood there, his arms around me with my back against his chest, both of us breathing hard and neither of us brave enough to break the silence first. Finally, I had to speak. "Why didn't you save her." It was harsh and I knew it would hurt. But nothing could hurt more than my heart right then.

He pushed back from me and gave me hurt eyes. "What are you talking about? I tried to!"

"Not hard enough! You always saved me! Every time I was in danger you were there, ready to catch me when I fell! Why not her? You should have saved her!" I wanted to stop, but the words just kept pouring out of my mouth. I also wanted to cry, but for some reason the tears would not come. I stood there, watching the hurt flow across my husband's face and until it changed to anger.

He pushed me back against the counter and held me there. "And why didn't you keep her! She was in YOUR arms!" he almost screamed in my face.

I pushed back roughly and moved away from the counter. By the time I got to the living room I realized he was following me. When he touched my arm I slapped it away. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" I screamed, shoving him back again. He wouldn't back off. He pushed me back against the wall and pinned me, my arms up above my head. He pressed his body to mine so that we were touching all the way down to our feet. I tried to bring my knee up to hit him, but he was too close.

There is an instant, when one emotion bleeds into another so well that you almost don't even recognize it. It's almost like when you are caught up in a good book, you are so into it that you don't even see the day wearing on, and then you look up and day has turned into night. One moment, I was so angry I wanted hurt him as much as I was hurting, the next our bodies were connected totally. We didn't even bother with half of our clothes.

It started with us against the wall, but then somehow we found ourselves on the floor next to the couch. He kept my arms above my head at first, but when I dug my nails into his hands he let go. I found my relief when my nails found his back and I tore ribbons down my spine, screaming out every emotion that was running through me. I let it happen, because if it didn't, then there would have been nothing left of us.

I don't know how much time passed before we were just lying on the floor next to each other. I think it was between round two when the rest of our clothes vanished. Natsu was finally breathing normally again but I didn't have the heart to talk to him just yet.

"It's ok." I jumped a little when he spoke. He touched the back of my neck, then gently ran his hand through my hair. "I know you didn't mean those things, or at least, that you don't fully mean them."

I rolled over and took his hand in mine. "I'm sorry." I turned my head so that his hand caressed the side of my face. "I am angry, but not at you. I'm just angry that after 6 months, I was finally starting to get back to myself and then this new thing happens and we are still nowhere when it comes to them."

He pulled me close to him and kissed the top of my head while I wrapped my legs around one of his. "I know. Maybe this really will lead us somewhere. Or, maybe this person will send another card or something with more information. I know it's not much, but it's better than nothing." He pulled me closer to him and rubbed my side.

"I think about her every day."

"I do too."

"I can't help but wonder if she's safe, or if she's…" I couldn't finish that thought. I didn't want to believe that one, but no matter how hard I tried to force it out of my mind it kept crawling back in.

"Don't" he said, his breath heavy on the top of my head. "Don't even go there. We WILL get her back! You hear me!"

I nodded and buried my face in his shoulder. I wanted to believe I would get her back, but somewhere deep down was the fear that I would never see her face again.

 **Natsu**

An hour or so later we decided to head to the guild and get something to eat there. Lucy was still too emotional so I didn't want her around fire and glass. It's a good thing Mira is always glad to serve us there, otherwise we would have probably starved the last several months. We took our place at a table just a few feet from the bar to wait and then Levy sat down next to Lucy.

"Well, you look about at beat up as I feel." She told her. Lucy's face turned a bright crimson before she covered it with her hands. I felt the grin on my own face before I could hide it. Levy looked flat out confused. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

"No." I told our friend, the laughter bubbling up. "She's just remembering something from earlier." I stretched my arm across Lucy's shoulders and kissed the top of her head and laughed.

"I'm sorry." Levy said.

"Don't be. She's just not used that that kind of thing yet."

She popped her head up so fast that it collided with my jaw and sent my head rocking back. I tried to curse, but then I just found it too amusing and began to laugh. Lucy turned outraged eyes to me, and I just laughed even harder. She slapped my shoulder lightly, warning me to behave, so I raised my hands in surrender. "I'm going to go wait at the bar for our food." I removed myself from the temptation of more laughter and sat myself at the bar.

I was still giggling to myself when Gray put himself next to me. "What the hell is so funny?" I looked over at him and the laughter came back with gusto when I saw the expression on his face. "WHAT?" he shouted.

"I'm sorry." I forced the words out in between the bits of laughing, "I'm sorry, it's just your face, and then with.." I pointed back to Lucy sitting with Levy, her face was still bright red. "I just couldn't help myself."

I thought he was going to deck me, but he didn't. He turned in his seat to face the guild hall, leaning back against the bar with his elbows holding him up. "I get it, you need the release."

Call me immature, but I laughed at that. I mean, full out laughing. I think the first sound that came out of my mouth sounded like some kind of animal. I know it didn't sound human. I don't remember falling off of the stool, but when I was on the floor Gray walked away in a huff. Leaving me to my insanity. That had to be what was happening to me. There was no other explanation.

When I finally got control of myself, I stayed on the floor. I was staring up at the ceiling when I had to wonder if I really was losing it. The rest of the guild was looking at me like I was a wild animal about to bite them, Lucy was even looking over at me like she had no idea who I was. But then I remembered what Gray said to me before I lost it. 'you need the release', he was right. These last six months of anger, and heartache, and so many other emotions and now I was finally letting myself feel something else. I guess it had to come out all at once.

I sat up and looked around again. There was a stupid grin on my face when I saw Lucy. She was giving me those eyes that said I was a moron, but I was _her_ moron. I made sure I gave her a look back that said _and don't you forget it_ when something fell in my lap.

I glanced down and stood up so fast I forgot I was at the bar. My head hit the underside and I went back down. I scooted forward enough so that I was out from under it then stood again, my head spinning. "GUYS!" I shouted out, waving the envelope in the air. It was just like the others, with the same wax seal and everything.

Lucy ran up to me with Levy right behind her. Makarov was standing on the stairs watching me with Laxus right behind him. "Open it." He said, his words echoing in the now silent guild hall.

I opened it, and then pulled out the card. I stared at it blankly, very much confused. "What does it say?" Lucy asked, she was clinging to Levy and staring at the back of the card as though she was trying to see through it.

I turned it around to show her and then she widened her eyes. There was only one word on this card that was addressed to Fairy Tail.

 _ **Catch**_

 **Nashi**

I was sitting on the couch while Lila played with my hair and watched while Simon tried to show Elena how tie her shoe. She was getting better with everything, but for some reason she was having a hard time with her shoelaces. We all did our part with working on getting the feral out of Elena but Simon was the best with her. I guess it's because they were brother and sister, his patience with her was amazing. I was just glad when she started using the bathroom instead of going outside. I mean she was old enough to know these things before she was sent to that place, but living there alone for 5 years does its damage.

I closed my eyes when I felt the brush scrape along my scalp. I never knew why but I found that relaxing. Maybe it was all of the violence I was used to, making pain nothing new to me, but I decided a while ago to stop questioning everything so much. Whatever happened, whatever I felt, it just was. This was who I was, and I was learning to accept her.

I heard Elena snarl and I opened my eyes. She had thrown the shoe across the room again. Simon sighed and then got up to retrieve it. "Maybe you should take a break for the day." I told him when he passed by me.

"I can't." He bent down and picked the shoe up then walked calmly back to his sister and put it back in her foot. "I have to make sure she's ready for when we go home." He smiled at her but she stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry at him. "I know you don't understand everything," he told her "but you will one day." He took both of her hands and held them back down to her shoe and began again.

"I wish I had your patience, Simon." I felt Lila put my hair in a ponytail then sat down next to me on the couch.

"You could, if you worked at it." He gave me a serious face then, "It took a lot for me to get like this. Besides, she's my sister. It wouldn't be right to be anything else with her."

There was a commotion at the door that caught all of our attention. I sat forward to see and then the rest of my friends came through, and all of them were yelling at each other. I couldn't tell what they were saying though because everyone's voice was trampling over the other's. All I could really tell was that all of them were angry with each other.

When they got to the middle of the room, Elena got ahold of the tension and began scream with the loud voices.

Silver turned to Simon and yelled at him to shut his sister up, which pissed Simon off and then he was yelling at Silver to not talk to him like that. When I stood to leave the room I ran into Mina, who then turned to yell at me for getting in her way. I tried to apologize and back away but she wouldn't have any of that. Before she had the chance to hit me though Castor caught her arm and the pushed her away.

They started to argue again and then I ran my eyes across all of them and felt something deep inside me snap. I had been in tough situation before, but with those it was always me against some stranger. It was kill or be killed. But now, it was my friends. We had all been through some serious shit and here we were tearing each other to shreds for no reason.

I screamed and suddenly my entire body was covered in flames. "SHUT UP!"

They shut up alright. All nine of their faces turned to me with a mix of emotions. I didn't care. I didn't survive that damn death arena and find real friends just to watch them destroy themselves. I was about to do something, what it was I didn't know, I really was just winging it. But then my fire when out on its own. I felt a breeze above me and looked up.

It looked like there was a mass of swirling clouds on the ceiling that had a flow of air to go with it. I never took my eyes off of it, because I knew what it was. I didn't know if the other knew, but I did. I stood up straight and crossed my arms across my chest. I sensed the others moving, but I didn't know what they were doing. I didn't dare take my eyes off of that thing.

When I felt me feet lift off the ground I closed my eyes and prayed that I ended up somewhere better that the arena. I couldn't do that again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Natsu**

Almost at the exact moment I turned the card to show Lucy, a large cloud appeared in the middle of the guild hall. It started to rotate slowly and the air began to swirl with it. Every head there turned up to it, wonder and confusion in every person. There was then a sense of electricity that we could see in the cloud, like small bolts of lightning that cracked and popped here and there but never touching the ground. A thought popped into my head, but it was Wendy that voiced it. "It looks like an anima."

Suddenly, something dropped from it and landed on a nearby table. I didn't have the chance to see what it was when something else landed on top of the bar, a mere foot away from Makarov. It wasn't until the fourth one that fell when I realized that it was people falling from this thing.

One of them landed close to where I was standing. She hit the ground on her feet then rolled with the momentum of falling. When she stopped she was crouched down, both feet spread out slightly and a hand on the ground to stead herself and the other held out for balance.

I felt like I got hit in the chest when I saw her face, and then the air hit my nose with her scent. I couldn't move, couldn't even breath. It wasn't possible. It couldn't have been possible. But then…why did this girl smell like _her_? Why did she smell like my Nashi?

 **Nashi**

When the portal picked me up, I knew that it was going to be tossed around like crazy. It wasn't my first time in one. I hated it. It felt like I was stuffed in a sack and then two people were playing catch with me. I did my best to keep my arms tucked it at my chest, but that gets hard to do when the air around you is so violent. My hair kept hitting me in the face and at one point it felt like my hair hit me so hard it may have scratched me. That sucked.

After what felt like an eternity I could feel the air change. That was good, it meant that I was getting to other side. If I wasn't careful I would be dropped like a lead ball, so with every muscle I had I pulled my feet together and held my legs out straight below me. I cracked my eyes open and saw the round opening below me and the wooden floor on the other side. As I expected, once I was closed to the opening I began to move faster, but not the same tumbling as before. It was more like I was a bullet being fired out of a gun.

I felt my feet hit the barrier and then the rest of me, I then hit the ground hard and rolled to lessen the impact. When I stopped, I flipped my head up and glanced around me. There were people all around us, staring with mouths open wide. My friends were still falling out of the portal, but I didn't have time to worry about them yet. I needed to know if we were safe.

A small movement to my right forced me to tense up and shift my feet so that my left leg was back behind me, better balance and good for if I had to get up and run. I saw him. He was staring at me with something close to wonder and shock all over his face. There was something about him that was familiar, but when I heard Elena scream I turned to face her.

Some red-headed woman had her and Simon at sword point. Elena had her face buried in Simon's neck, and Simon stood there facing her. He really was too patient. The woman pushed the point of her sword forward and closer to his neck, but before she could do or say anything, a bolt of lightning hit her square in the chest.

I decided then that my best choice was to run. I was worried about my friends, but at the same time I knew that every one of us could take care of ourselves. I reared back with a fist lit up and punched the floor, causing the floor to splinter, but using my power I sent a wave of flame underneath it and throughout the room. The people standing on the floor began to cry out when the heat hit them. I used the distraction to launch myself backwards and the run out of building.

Outside, the cool air hit me like a ton of bricks. I had never smelled anything to clear before. I didn't have to time to stop and savor it, so I just ran. I ran through the streets of this strange city like I had a pack of demons at my back, but for all I knew I really did. Why did this have to happen to us again? And why now? Pops told us that it could take another year or two before he would be able to move us again, so what the hell happened?

 **Silver**

Run. That is what we did if we felt threatened. And we sure as hell did now. We landed in a strange world that was nothing like what we were used to and that is what you do if you are scared and have no freaking idea what you are up against. At least, that's what pops always told us. 'If you don't know the full situation, the best thing is for you to just run.'

So that's what we did.

I managed to grab Lynne before Nashi pulled her little stunt and made it to one of the windows. I was almost half a block away when I heard someone running behind me. My sister was making small whimpering noises as we ran, letting me know she was terrified, so I turned to confront our follower but the nearly tripped when I saw that it was Gunner.

"Dammit, Gunner. Don't sneak up on me like that." I turned back around and kept on running, pulling my sister behind me. "Where's Lila?"

He made a noise behind me that was half growl and half groan. "No idea. We got separated back there."

"Sorry man. We'll find her once this settle down."

"We better." His voice left no room for anything but agreement.

Gunner was never someone you wanted to argue with, mainly because he would never give up the argument even if he knew he was wrong. Besides, with his nose I knew that we would all find each other eventually.

Sure enough, Gunner hit my shoulder and told me take the next right. I did and then followed that street until he hit me again and then said to go right again and to keep going until there was no more road. At the end, there was nothing around us. No people and no buildings, just a field with some trees in the back of it. I wanted to say something to him about his directions, but he walked off.

I expected him to go for the trees but he didn't. He walked along the edge of the city wall until we hit another road, this one dirt. He took off down it, leaving Lynne and myself staring in frustration.

I caught up to him about 20 minutes later at an old and rundown building that looked like it used to be a windmill. We eased our way up to it and then opened the door slowly. Before Gunner got the door open enough to stick his head through, a bar stool flew at him. He slammed the door shut with a shout and then called to the person that threw said stool. "Dammit Lila it's ME!"

Inside, I heard a muffled shout and then the door flew back open and a mass of light blue hair flew out and collided with Gunner. She let go of him and then slapped him sharply across the face. "Where the hell have you been?" she yelled.

Gunner rubbed his cheek and grinned at her. "Looking for you, you dork!" he gave her a playful shove then moved passed her to enter the building.

I followed and gave a massive sigh of relief when I saw so many of my friends there. Some were missing though. I didn't see Nashi, and Simon and Elena were also absent. But seeing Raiden, Mina and Castor was still a huge relief. The other three were fine even if I didn't know where they were. They were all strong fighters.

I sat down against the wall by the door with Lynne sitting next to me. When the others settled back down, I looked around and spoke. "So, what do we do now?"

"Pops always told us to assess the situation before reacting." Raid said in his rumbling voice.

"I think Nashi decided otherwise." Gunner complained. He was sitting on the floor like me, but against a decrepit bar instead of the wall.

"Can you blame her?" Lila asked. "Look at what she's been through."

"Yeah?' Gunner turned to her. "Look at what we've all been though. None of us is more special than the other, Lila, you know that."

"I know. I just don't blame her for overreacting. I know I wanted to panic and use my magic to get out of there."

"Don't forget it was Raiden that started it!" Mina grumbled. She was on the other side of the room, away from her older brother.

"What was I supposed to do?" He growled at her. "That woman had a sword on them!"

"Who's to say she would have done anything?" Mina took a step closer to him and lifted a hand up. I didn't know what she was going to do, but she was stopped by a pillar of water. I looked over and saw my sister on her knees with her hands out in front of her.

"Enough of this!" she was breathing heavily, probably from emotion. "We have bigger things to deal with right now!"

I couldn't help the pride that started to fill me. My twin was usually so quiet and demure, so to see her like this was incredible. The others saw the change too, so they backed off. She sat back down and I patted her hand and gave her a soft smile. Letting her know I was proud of her. She smiled back shyly and then tried to hide behind her dark blue hair. "So, after we are supposed to do now? I don't remember pops giving us any advice on what to do if we were in a situation like this."

"He told me once," Castor spoke up finally, "he told me to trust my instincts, and that of my friends."

"Well that's helpful." Mina said. She took a seat on a table that didn't really look stable enough to hold her.

"It is if you listen to it." Her brother said. He turned back to me with serious eyes. "Where do you think they would go?"

I thought about it for a moment before I gave an answer. "Nashi doesn't like tight spaces, so she is probably in the forest somewhere. Simon, probably looked for an abandoned building that was far away from anyone. Elena will be panicking so he will want to go somewhere to calm her down without freaking anyone out."

"Alright." Raiden stood up and turned to each of us. "Silver, I want you, Lynne, Castor to head out and look for Nashi. The rest of us will look for Simon and Elena."

"Why?" Mina yelled out. "Why do we have to go look for them? Why can't we just wait for them to come to us?"

"Because that's not who we are!" He stepped up to her, his larger frame towering over hers. "We do not leave our friends alone in a strange world!"

Mina wanted to argue back, but his presence in front of her was enough to force her to step back. She gave me a look that said she would make me pay, even though it was her own damn fault for being so selfish. Then again, just like Lila said, I couldn't blame her. In Mina's mind, bad things happened when you went out hunting for something or someone.

 **Natsu**

When the dust settled and the fires went out, all of the people that dropped into the guild hall were gone. There were shouts all around me of outrage and confusion, but I was silent. Lucy came up to me and touched my shoulder and I could faintly hear her asking if I was ok, but all I could do was stand there and think about that scent. I knew that I had to do something.

I reached up and grabbed Lucy's hand then pulled it to my mouth. I gave it a little kiss than locked eyed with her. "Do you trust me?" I asked her quietly.

"You know I do." She replied.

I laced my fingers with hers then pulled her out of the guild hall at a run. I heard her protest at first but then she grew silent. She trusted me.

I followed the scent down this street and that one until I ended up in the forest outside of the city. Why she went this way I didn't understand, it was all the way on the opposite side from the guild hall, and the longest route to the forest. Either way, this was the way she went.

When I stopped, Lucy decided that she had a question to ask, even though she trusted me. "What are we doing, Natsu?"

"Did you see her?" I asked, not even looking in her direction. My eyes were straight ahead of me, staring in the direction she went.

"See who? One of those people?"

"Yes. The one that landed right by us, did you see her?"

"Yeah, but when all the others dropping, I didn't get a good look at her. IS there something special about her?"

"Very." I didn't say anything else, because I didn't want to get her hopes up just yet. If I was wrong, and this was just a strange coincidence then I would apologize to the girl. But I had to know. I pulled her along again, but walking this time instead of running. I knew she wasn't far, her scent was strong in this area.

I had to stop at one point and close my eyes so I could focus on the smell. It may have been strong, but it was all over. It was almost like she didn't really know where to go so she ran in circles. Or maybe she did it on purpose so throw me off. How would she know to do something like that? Unless she had a good sense of smell like I did.

I finally picked up a trail that strayed off to the left and followed it. It took about fifteen feet before it became so strong that my heart began to pump so hard and fast I thought it might burst from my chest. And then I saw her.

Her back was to us, and she was reading something. It was the same scent, and the closer to her I got the stronger it became. I couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to know the truth, I wanted to know if it was really her. Lucy was right beside me and she didn't understand what was happening. But when the girl half turned back to us, she saw the book in her hands. Lucy gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth. She knew what book that was, and so did I. It was Lucy's diary that vanished that that same, horrible night.

She looked at me, her hands shaking and barely able to keep her grip on the diary. Her mouth opened and closed several timed, but no sound came out.

Lucy spoke up, her voice soft and quivering. "Who are you?"

The girl looked at Lucy then and said "I think I'm your daughter."


	5. Chapter 5

**Lucy**

We were following behind her through a crowed street in Magnolia. I couldn't take my eyes off of the back of her head. "Are you sure?' I whispered to Natsu. He was walking next to me, his eyes fixed just as intently on her.

"Absolutely." He told me.

"It doesn't make any sense! Nashi is 8 months old, not 15 YEARS old!" I tried to keep my voice down, but it seemed to be carried on the wind.

"I don't understand it either. But I know her smell." Natsu said. "It may be fading, but Nashi's sent is still on her blankets and clothes at our house, plus there's no way I could ever forget it."

I tried to argue back but the girl in front of us stopped. "I can HEAR you!"

"Of course you can!" my stupid husband said with a stupid grin on his face. "It's the dragon slaying magic!" he turned that stupid grin to me "She gets that from me."

"Would you stop it!" I slapped his shoulder and then pointed at the girl. "That is NOT my daughter!"

Natsu touched my hand and pulled it down. He then leaned in to whisper into my ear. "She has your eyes."

I allowed myself to look at her again, and made sure to look into her eyes this time. And then I saw it. It wasn't just my eyes, she had my mother's eyes as well. "How is this possible?"

"The place I was in, time moved differently. While it was only a few months for you, it was 15 years for me." Her words were soft but there was a hardness in them too. It made me think that there was something very hard about this girl.

I let myself stare at this girl. REALLY stare at her and take in all of her features. It wasn't just the eyes, I could see Natsu's jaw and my nose. Her hair was obviously from Natsu, and she may have a touch of my mother in her cheek bones. The tears started to fall as I remembered all of the times I dreamed of holding her in my arms again. Feeling her skin on mine as I breathed in her scent and let the warm feelings just wash over me.

I took several careful steps to her, and she started to back away from me. I stopped, and then she stopped. "I have to find the others." Then she turned and bolted away.

I felt my knees give out beneath me and I would have hit the pavement if not for Natsu. "I told you, that REALLY is her!"

"It's really her." My throat was too try, so my words came out raw. "She's really home." I felt the air in my lungs leave me and I struggled to breath. Natsu lifted me up in his arms and then turned around. Watching the surroundings, I could tell he was heading back to the guild hall. "Wait!" I shouted, fighting for him to put me down. "Stop! We have to go back! We have to find her!"

"Don't worry. I'm just taking you back to the guild hall so you can tell the other what we discovered, then I'm going back out for her. And I promise, I'm not coming back without her!"

 **Gray**

When Lucy walked back in the guild hall, we were still picking up stuff and trying to fix the floor. When she started talking to us, our jaws hit the floor.

"WHAT?" Levy shouted, she ran up to Lucy and took hold of her shoulders and started shaking her back and forth.

Lucy managed to push the girl back and then straightened a lock of her hair. "I don't fully understand it, but it's really her. One of those people that fell out of the anima was my Nashi." She turned her head back to the bar and saw the card that Natsu had earlier and then moved to retrieve it. She gave a slight laugh when she read it again. "It's all clear now." She handed the card to me and I read the single word that was written.

I felt my chest tighten and I looked up at my friend. "Does this mean that…"

"I think," Lucy said "whoever sent those cards to us the other day, and then this one, sent our children back to us today. Only they are not the infants and toddlers that we were expecting."

The feeling in my chest got even more tight, and then I dashed out of the guild hall. I could hear my guild mates cry out for me, but I ignored them. I didn't give a damn about them right now. There were only 3 things I cared about. The first thing was to tell my wife that our kids were not only safe, but also home. And the second and third were our kids themselves.

When I rushed into the house, Juvia was right where I left her. She was sitting in an arm chair by the window, a pool of water around her. In the beginning the entire city of Magnolia had a series of rainstorms that almost washed the city away, but I was able to help her ease back. Now, it only rained on her. I still didn't like it. I didn't like seeing her this sad.

I ran up to her, putting myself right in the middle of her rain, and took her face in my hands. "Juvia." I said, my voice slightly frantic. "Juvia listen to me! I need you to hear me now." Her eyes were unfocused and staring, but there was a twitch that made me sure she was at least partly listening to me. "They are here! Our Silver and our Lynne! They are here!" I waited for her to do something, but she just sat there. "Juvia, please."

There was suddenly a wall of water that pushed me back. I turned back to her and saw her eyes, burning with anger. "How dare you!" she said, voice low and filled with rage. "How DARE you LIE to ME!" She stood up and I moved to stand as well. I saw her raise her arms to send another attack at me, but I quickly threw myself at her and froze us together. "NOOOOOOO!" she screamed, trying in vain to throw herself around and break the ice that surrounded us.

"LISTEN!" I shouted in her face. She stopped moving then turned a weary face to me. "Just a few minutes ago, 10 people fell into the guild hall from an anima. One of those people was Nashi, Natsu and Lucy's kid. Lucy told us herself that it was really her, just older. I promise you, I would not lie about this." I waited for her to say something, but for the moment she just kept her eyes locked onto mine. Finally, the rain stopped, and she cried.

I leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead and then released the ice around us. Once free, she sank to the floor and her tears intensified. I tried to comfort her, but when I saw her face I realized she didn't need comfort. She was smiling. Her eyes were shining brighter than ever and I knew that she would be ok. "Where are they?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. They ran off, but they can't be far. Probably still inside the city somewhere."

She took a few deep breaths and then stood. It took her a moment to steady herself, then she turned her determined eyes back to me. "Then let's go find them."

 **Nashi**

I ran until my legs would hold me anymore, and then I collapsed next to a tree somewhere in a forest. I sank to the ground and let out all of the tears that I had been holding back. My chest ached and I couldn't breathe. I knew it, I knew it would go badly when I met them.

' _That is NOT my daughter!"_

I always wanted to find them, and have a real family. I wanted to have a mother that would hold me tight and tell me that everything was going to be fine and a father that would demand to know where the boy that hurt me was so he could kick his ass. I should have remembered that life is never what you want. It still killed a part of me to hear her say that.

I should have known that I would be rejected. The only reason they kept me at the arena was because I could fight. Maybe if they knew I could fight, maybe they would want me then?

I covered my ears and screamed to the ground. That was no way to think. If they didn't accept me, then they didn't accept me and I had to move on.

But they were my parents. I wanted, more than anything, for them the want me. I wanted my mother to look me in the eyes and tell me that she loved me. I wanted my father to hold me in his arms and tell me that I was more than enough for them. I wanted my family.

Why couldn't I have my family?

I heard the sounds of someone walking on leaves from a short distance away and I shot up and watched in that direction. I waited until I could see a body form and then I tried to run away again. "Oh, no you don't!" he said, tackling me to the ground. I thought about fighting him, but I could never be as strong as he was.

I lay there on my stomach and pressed my face into the earth beneath me, I hoped he would just go, but it didn't happen. He did let me go though. He sat down next to me and waited for me to get up. When I didn't, he laid down beside me. I moved my head just enough so I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He looked calm, not like he was expecting anything from me, but like he was just waiting.

"Are you ok?" he asked me, finally breaking the silence.

"Fine" I mumbled, turning my face back. I knew I looked ridiculous but I didn't care.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

When I didn't say anything else, he sighed. "Is that all I am going to get? One word answers?"

"Maybe."

I heard him chuckle and then he moved and forced me to sit up. He didn't pick me up and act like he was going to take me anywhere, he just sat me up so that I was facing him.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Oh! More than one word!" He gave me a grin that was supposed to cheer me up, but I just wanted to slap him. "All I want is for you to talk to me."

I had to look away from him then. I didn't want him to see how I felt. "About?"

"Anything. Everything." He touched my chin and made me look at him again. "We missed so much of your life, so I want to hear everything."

"That may take a while." I said through clenched teeth.

"I've got time." He just looked at me with these eyes that I could turn away from. I wanted to. I wanted to run away and just keep running. "If you want, start with the group. You weren't taken at the same time, so how did you fine each other?"

"Well, that's because of pops."

"Pops?"

"Yeah, he found us and brought us all together. He taught us a lot about our power and such. When he found us, at least half couldn't use their magic yet."

"But he helped you to unlock it."

"He helped _them_ unlock it, I had my power years ago."

It was strangely easy to talk to him. I had never had conversations this personal with anyone, but after a while it didn't feel strange anymore. It actually felt right.

 **Pops**

I watched them through the lacrima in my secret home. From the moment they first went through the anima and then landed in the guild hall, I watched them. The smile on my face was not a pleasant one for most people. All the years planning, and finally things were falling into place. Learning the translocation spell was easy, but finding the right targets was more of a challenge. Once I found them though, it all became clear.

I was still watching when that pesky dragon slayer found Nashi in the woods. I knew weeks ago how the girl would react if I put her face to face with them so early, which was precisely why I did it. I need them all to be off balance for my plans to work the way they needed to. And right now, well, this smile said everything it needed to.

I flipped around on the lacrima until I found Simon and Elena. They were hiding in some building but Elena was giving her brother a hard time. I could see her fighting with him, and winced when she left bloody claw marks down his face. It had to hurt, but I didn't really care. This was nothing compared to what they had already been through. And it was even less comparable to what was still to come.

I let myself laugh aloud. _Enjoy this time, Fairy Tail._ I said to myself, feeling the glee building from deep within me. _It will not last._

I turned around to my stack of cards and began filling them out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Mira**

Laxus and I were walking around Magnolia trying to catch a glimpse of who we now knew were actually our children. I still couldn't believe that it was them. The last time I saw our Raiden and Mina they were so tiny. Raiden was 1 month shy of his second birthday, and Mina was less than a week away from her first. And now they were all grown up. I was past the point of tears at this point. Someone stole all of the moments that I, as a mother, was supposed to have. I never got to watch them as they grew and got stronger. I was angry. We all were. Once we found them, the next step was to find the person who stole them from us, and make them suffer the way we did.

There was a tug on my arm that drew my attention to my husband. He was looking down at me with serious eyes. "Deep thoughts?" he asked me.

"You could say that." I replied, turning away from him and back to the road in front of us.

"I have to admit something." He took his hand away only to hug my arm to his side. "When that one guy sent that lightning bolt at Erza, a part of me thought that he was ours."

"With that kind of power, how could you not?"

He responded with a chuckle that was cut off by a loud _BANG_ a street over. We stopped an watched in that direction for a minute, but when we saw a pillar of ice shoot into the air we started running.

We rounded the turn and froze in our tracks. Gray and Juvia were there and they were facing off with three people, two guys and one girl. The girl was hiding behind one of the guys, and looking at the girl there was no denying that she was Juvia's. It was her Lynne.

Gray saw us but motioned for us to stay back. "I don't want to hurt you!" He told the kids in front of him.

"I don't believe you!" the boy in front of the girl shouted. He held a hand low to the ground and ice erupted and then snaked its way to Gray. I gasped and held a hand to my mouth, that magic, he was Silver. Juvia was there to break it up with her water magic before it even got close to them. I wanted to intervene, but seeing them made me realize that I couldn't. This was something they had to do.

The third guy came up to whisper in Silver's ear and I finally let a tear escape. He wasn't my Raiden, but with that hair, he was a Strauss. He must have been Elfman's boy, Castor. When he leaned away from Silver, he turned to face us. So, he was going to take us on so his friends could deal with Gray and Juvia. I felt the sinister smile spread across my face, he didn't know us at all.

When the thought hit me, my knees buckled. He didn't know us. None of them did. Laxus held onto me, and lifted me back up. I shrugged his arm off of me then took several steps closer to the three kids in the middle of the street. Castor reached back to tap Silver and get his attention. He turned to me, but didn't know what to do when he saw my face.

My heart was broken, it had been since the day they were taken from me. And not that I was pregnant again my emotions were all over the place. I usually tried to hide it, but today I let them show. I let all of the heart ache, sorrow, fear, and concern show as I took those steps to our lost children. My eyes were on Castor, my nephew, and his eyes were on me.

"Do you know our names?" I asked softly, knowing that they didn't but somehow needing to hear him say it.

"No." it was exactly what I thought.

"My name is Mirajane. And your name is Castor."

His head pulled back in surprise. "How do you know my name?"

"Because I was there when you were born. I was one of the first people to hold you, after your mother and father of course. I watched you every day and held you. I laughed when you laughed, and wanted to cry when you cried. But then you were gone." I was less than 2 feet from them now. "I then had to watch your mother and father go through the same grief that my husband and I went through. I held you mother in her bed while she cried so hard I thought she would never stop, and I cried right along with her." I was inches away from him now. I reached a hand out and touched his arm.

"You know my mom and dad?"

His question made my heart ache even more. It was said the way a small child would speak. His eyes filled and he moved to touch my arm. "I have known your father his entire life." I covered his hand with my own and didn't even bother to wipe off the tears that hit it. "He is my baby brother."

His body began to shake and I thought he was going to fall, but then he lifted to shining eyes back to me and asked. "Can I see them?"

"Of course you can!" I lifted my other hand to Silver and Lynne. "They just want you home, you know." He gave me a confused expression, then turned to Gray.

"He's…?"

"Gray Fullbuster, and the woman with him is Juvia." Lynne gasped and pushed back from her brother when I said their names. She looked back at me, and then at her parents, then ran to Juvia. When she reached her, her arms went around her mother's neck and they both fell to the ground. Juvia was crying very loudly, but there was also a smile there as she held her lost daughter and kept running her hand through her hair. Gray stood there and watched them, his own face contorted in emotion. I could see that he wanted to go to his girls, but he also wanted them to have this moment for themselves.

He turned his eyes to Silver, who instead of going to his father, turned and walked in the opposite direction. Gray moved to follow him, but Castor stopped him. "Give him some time. He isn't used to people actually caring about him like this."

I could see Gray force himself to turn away and then go back to Juvia and Lynne. I then turned back to Castor. "Come on, let's go find your mom and dad."

 **Silver**

I was fuming. How dare they just stroll up and want us to be their happy kids. I hated it. They had no right after everything we went through. What I hated the most was how fast Lynne was to just run to her like our past meant nothing. Like she didn't go through hell because of them. If I was stronger I would have pulled her away and made he leave with me, but there was no way I could have beaten them. I would have to just get stronger so I could one day, maybe then my sister would see that it wasn't worth it.

As lost in my own thoughts as I was, I didn't even know someone was following me until I felt the hand on my shoulder. I reached behind me and grasped the arm just under the elbow and twisted, getting a loud shout in response. I let go when I recognized that shout. "Dammit Gunner."

He was rubbing his arm and glaring at me when I saw the other 3 walk up behind him. "Where is Lynne and Castor?" Lila asked me, standing beside her brother.

"Probably going back to that building we dropped into."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because we didn't land in some random world. And we are not in another bubble. We are where we started."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means, we were born in this world."

"This is our world?" I could see the waterworks starting, and it pissed me off even more. I had to look away from her. "Does that mean our families are here?"

"Yep. But I don't know why you would want anything to do with them."

"What is wrong with you?" her anger sent a shiver down my spine.

"What's wrong with me?" my teeth were clenched together in my rage. I rounded on her and would have hit her but Gunner was right there, making sure I didn't. "THEY ABANDONED US!"

"Who in the hell told you that?" the deep voice sounded from behind me and I spun to see a large and brooding man sitting on the top of a garden wall. His black hair was sticking up in places that reminded me faintly of Gunner in the mornings.

"Who are you?" I asked, squaring my shoulders and readying myself to defend my friends.

"My question first. Who told you your parents abandoned you?"

"No one, but it's the only explanation that fits. We went through hell, and there was no on there to save us, or comfort us. There was no one to tell us that we would survive the nightmare, so we had so tell ourselves that."

"I'm sorry you feel that way kid, but I have to tell you that you are wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"Not about your feelings, but the other thing." He hopped down from the wall and strode over to us with 2 long strides. "We didn't abandon you. You were taken from us, and we never stopped looking for any of you."

"Why should I believe you?"

"You don't have to believe me. In fact, feel free to question every single member of the Fairy Tail guild. But they will all tell you the same thing."

"Why do you even care this? I'm not your kid. I already saw my _father._ "

"No, you ain't my kid, but they are." He pointed behind me to Gunner and Lila. "Heard you say his name, and I would recognize that mop of hair anywhere." Lila took a step back, and would have taken more but Gunner stopped her. The man spoke to me again. "Like I said, you don't have to believe me. But, you really should go back to the guild hall."

"The what?" Gunner asked.

"Guild hall. That building you guys crash landed in, that is our guild hall. Everyone should be there."

"Screw you. I'm not going anywhere." I spun around and started to storm off, but for some reason I got tired and the ground looked like a good place to nap.

 **Lucy**

People were starting to come back to the guild hall. When I saw Gray and Juvia show up with a weeping girl between them, I felt my chest clench. We found one of them. Then I saw Mira enter right behind with a boy and then I almost lost it. There was another one. I watched with misty eyes as she led the boy over to Elfman and Evergreen. The look on Ever's face was priceless, and Elfman cried like a little baby. I didn't blame him.

Another person came through the door and I had to sigh. They still weren't back yet. He promised me that he wouldn't come back without her, so I had to trust that I would see the 2 of them again. I was sitting at the bar again, my seat facing the door. I wanted to make sure I saw them right when they walked through. What I wasn't expecting was seeing Gajeel come in with a boy limp over his shoulder and 4 more kids in tow. Knowing who these kids where now, I knew that one of them was Lila. So did Levy. The second she saw the girl she ran to her and tackled her to the ground.

There was a boy that had been standing close to Lila and he looked like he wanted to pry Levy off but then just sat down hard on the floor.

Gajeel tossed the unconscious boy on a nearby table and was then greeted by a very angry Gray. "What in the hell did you do to my kid?"

"He was being a little punk so I did something about it."

"You beat him up? Is that what you're saying?"

"No, I just knocked him out. Calm down, man." Before Gajeel had a chance to walk away Gray hit him in the back of the head. "What the hell?"

"Don't hit my kid!"

"Teach your kid some manners then!"

"I would, but YOU KNOCKED HIM OUT!"

I sighed as they kept fighting. It was like watching Natsu with Gray, or Natsu with Gajeel. I put a finger to my lips and thought about that. Maybe it was those 2 that were the reason Natsu kept fighting. If they were fighting each other now, then they had to be just as hot headed as Natsu. Right? I slapped myself internally. That was a load of crap, Natsu loved to fight anyone and everyone. That was just him.

I started to laugh at my own stupid thoughts when someone sat down next to me. When I looked over, it was Natsu. "What's so funny?"

I craned my neck around trying to see her, but was disappointed when I didn't. "She's fine, she just didn't want to come back in the building." He told me, sensing my mood.

"Where is she then?"

His eyes looked up and over, I followed them to a window near the roof and saw a figure sitting up there. "Why up there?"

"She said she like high places like that, gives her a chance to see everything."

I just stared up at the window, trying to urge her to join us, but it did no good. She was still lost to me.

"She agreed to come to our house tonight." Natsu said.

I snapped my head around and gave him wide eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. But don't get to clingy. She doesn't trust us yet."

"No promises." I moved my head back so I could see her again, and that's where I stayed until I felt an odd weight in my lap. It was another envelope. I opened it up and stared in confusion at what it said. I shifted my eyes around the room, seeing if anyone else got a card, but nothing. It looked like I was the only one. I read it again, and the confusion was just as strong.

 _ **Ask her if she can fly**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Simon**

The sun cast a low glowing light into the empty room that let me know it was setting. I had finally gotten Elena to settle down and she was now happily snoring away off to the side of the room. I raised a hand to my face and gently touched the rivets left by my darling sister and winced. I would be lucky if it didn't leave a scar. At least it stopped bleeding.

I chanced a look outside and thought to myself that I needed to find the others, but the snoring reminded me that I needed to wait. She wasn't up to all of the excitement yet. She was getting better, but still had a long way to go. It was hard, taking care of her. But I was the only one who could do it. I never was sure if she knew the connection between us, but I did know that she trusted me more than anyone else. The others all praised my patience with her, but to be honest I didn't know where it came from. Many times I wanted to just give up and tell pops that I couldn't take it anymore. But then Elena would look at me, and I couldn't turn away from her.

Staring out of the window, I smiled. I saw her coming towards the building with purposeful strides. It looked like I wouldn't have to go hunting for them after all. She walked into the building and took one look at Elena and then turned to me. "You ok?"

"I'm fine. Do I need to ask how you found me?"

Nashi grinned and tapped her nose. "You could but it would be a stupid question." Her face grew more serious. "I was actually sent out to find you."

"Really? Who sent you?"

"Well…"

 _Everyone was still confused but thrilled at the revelation that we were in fact their lost children. From my place near the roof, I could feel the swell of emotion like the wind on my face. It was annoying. Once everyone was there except for Simon and Elena there was talk about going out to find them. Of course some of my friends were giving advice on places that he liked to go if he was worried about Elena, but it was Silver that said something that pissed me off. "Just send Nashi out there, she's like a freaking bloodhound."_

 _My face flushed is anger and I jumped in through the window and hopped from the ledge to the banister and then down to the ground floor. "You did NOT just call me a dog!" I snapped, inches away from his face._

" _No, I said you were LIKE one! Not that you are one."_

" _What's the difference?"_

" _A tail."_

 _That did it. I didn't even remember balling my fist up, but I did fell when it connected with his face. I heard several people protest, but over all of that, I could hear him laughing his ass off._

Simon was straining himself to not laugh out loud by the time I finished. "How many people did it take to get you off of him?"

"Just two, but I wasn't really into the fight so I didn't resist."

"Wow. Our little Nashi not really into a fight with Silver? Are you sick or are you finally growing up?"

"Shut up." She said while she playfully punched my arm. "So, are you coming back or staying here?"

I turned back to my sister and sighed. "I don't know. I'm worried about how she'll react. You know she doesn't like big crowds of people."

"I know. But there are people waiting for you."

"Why?"

"Wait…I didn't tell you did I." She slapped herself on her head. "Shit, sorry. So this is actually the world we were born in and the building we landed in is where all of our parents are. So, yeah."

I could only stare at her. The idea of reuniting with them had gone through my head many times over the years but I never thought it would actually happen. Elena. How would she react? Would she even understand? "Have you seen your…"

"Yeah, and let's just say it wasn't the happy reunion that I always dreamed about. But then again, nothing is ever as perfect as we dream of usually."

"You have a point." I stood and made my way to my sister and then stared down at her, debating on if I should wake her. "Is it worth it?"

"Is what worth what?"

"Seeing them. Is it worth all the trouble?"

"It might be. I don't know, and neither will you unless you try."

I chuckled and knelt down. "When did you get so insightful?"

"When you weren't looking."

"I guess so." I reached out a hand to wake my sister while also bracing myself against her coming tantrum, but it didn't happen. Her eyes were already open. She gave me a look that was so clear it was almost unnerving and she said one word.

"Momma?" she asked.

"Yes, Elena. We are going to find momma."

 **Natsu**

When Nashi left to find the other 2, I decided to head out to find Erza. Once she realized what was going on she, like most of the others, left to find them.

I followed her scent all over Magnolia and finally found her sitting just outside Kardia Cathedral. She had her normal breast plate off so that all the was wearing was her white top with the blue skirt. I wondered why she was just sitting there, but then I saw her face, and the tears. I approached her slowly so I didn't startle her, but I should have known that it wasn't necessary. "You don't have to be so gentle with me Natsu." I could hear the smile in her words.

"Sorry, it's a habit I guess from dealing with all of the craziness from the last few years."

"Understandable. I know I was a complete mess for a while."

I sat down next to her on the bench and then stared out over the city with her. "What are you doing here?"

She shifted her body slightly, obviously uncomfortable with the question. "I just needed to think."

"About?" She didn't answer me. I had a feeling I knew what was bugging her. Hell, it was probably the same way all of us were feeling right now. "Are you worried that they won't like you?"

Her body jerked slightly, and she sighed. "Yes, and no. I mean it's not like I want them to automatically love me or anything. But what if I am not what they want? What if I don't live up to some expectation they have of who their mother is supposed to be?"

"What if you are overthinking it?" I said. I leaned back and looked up at the sky. "They aren't the little kids we thought we were going to get back and some of them are very broken, but it doesn't matter. Because they are still our kids. Nashi is very distant, and a few times I looked at her, I could tell her mind wasn't here. She was somewhere else that wasn't pleasant. All I could do was wait for her to come back. And that's all any of us can do, really."

"Natsu Dragneel." I took my eyes off of the sky and put them back on Erza. She was looking at me with a smile on her face. "How did you get so insightful?"

"I'm always insightful." I said with a smirk. I let it die down before I asked my next question. "So, when are you going to tell him?"

Her smile vanished as well and she had to look away. "I don't know. I haven't seen him at all in almost a year. When we realized that there was no trace of them, he couldn't take being here with all of the reminders of them around."

"He'll want to know."

"I know. And I will send him a message, I just don't know when or even how I'll word it so that he will believe me."

"Just tell him the truth."

"Right, because the truth is so easy to believe."

"Stranger things have happened to us."

We laughed together as the sun finally set for the night, leaving us to the darkness of the evening. I didn't want to push her to go back, but we couldn't sit here all night long. I was saved from the choice when I smelled her getting close to us, with two new scents with her.

I turned my head to the left and saw my Nashi walking to us, and two people behind her that were without a doubt the ones she was looking for. Erza finally heard them a moment later, and she stood up, locking eyes with the boy.

The girl was trying to hide behind him, while also trying to peek at Erza. I could only see one eye, and it just happened to be the eye that had the same mark as her father. If it wasn't for that, the girl would have been a spitting image of her mother.

"Hi." The boy said, his voice soft and scared.

"Hello." Erza's voice was just as scared as his. "How are you?" I could see that she regretted that question by the shift of her eyes. Like she was berating herself for such a stupid question.

"I'm ok, I guess."

They just stood there, staring at each other. I was getting annoyed, but apparently so was Nashi. She gave a low growl and then pushed the two kids forward and he stumbled, causing himself to fall to his knees. The girl was left standing on her own without her brother to shield her and her reaction was that of terror. She was looking all around for a place to hide, but then Erza was there. She was right in front of her, not trying to touch her, but helping her brother up from the ground.

Once he was standing again, she girl went back to hiding behind him. But this time she was watching Erza with both eyes. There was curiosity there along with the fear. She wanted to know more, but she was also afraid of what she would learn.

"Are you hungry?" Erza asked them. At first they just looked at her, unsure of how to answer.

"Food?" the girl asked. Her word clipped.

"Yes. Food."

"Food." She had turned back to her brother and tugged on his shirt. Repeating the word. Telling him that she wanted food.

"We are starving." He told Erza, a smile finally appearing.

I watched them leave, feeling warm and fuzzy inside and turned back to see Nashi trying to sneak away. "Leaving so soon?" I asked, stopping her in her tracks.

"I was just going to…um…"

I sat back down on the bench and patted the seat next to me. She sighed and then slowly slunk over and sat down. I pulled out the card that Lucy gave to me before I left the guild hall and handed it to her. She took it and smiled at it.

"So…what does that mean? _Can_ you fly?"

"Not really." she told me with a light laugh. "When pops first found me, I was a mess. I didn't want to talk to anyone, I didn't even want to be around people at all. One time, I ran out of the house and climbed this huge tree that was out back. Pops found me a few hours later, livid, he said everyone had been searching for me for hours." She turned the card over in her hands a few times, allowing herself a few moments to think. "After a minute or two, he finally calmed down and asked me why I was in the tree and I told him, 'because it feels like I'm flying.'" She handed the card back to me. "Being high up, it let me know that I wasn't trapped anymore. It was like I had the whole world under me and I could just spread my wings and soar above everything." She spread her arms out wide, like she had wings and she was about to take flight and closed her eyes. "So whenever I am feeling too closed in, I find a place that is high up and I will stand there like this. I will feel the wind hitting me and I can pretend for just a moment that I really am flying, and everything goes away."

She put her arms back down and opened her eyes back up. Turning to me she said "Anytime I had to leave the house and do that, pops would just say 'Nashi's flying again' and the others would know that I needed my space."

I had to give her a smile. I didn't want to, just the fact that she needed something like that tore at me. But at least she had _something_ to help her mind. "This pops guy, he really helped all of you out."

"He did. I don't know where any of us would be without him."

I reached a hand out to her and she jerked hers back, not wanting to be touched. I pulled back and sighed internally. It was worth a try. "So, do you know where you are staying?"

"You mean like sleeping?"

"Yeah."

"I…never thought about it. I'll probably see where everyone else is staying and then go with them." I guess she saw my expression because started to defend her words. "It's not that I don't want to stay with you, I'm just so used to being with the others that it feels…safe with them."

"It's ok. I get it, I do. I don't want to push you to do anything you don't feel comfortable with. But I want you to know this. You will always have a home with Lucy and myself. No matter what."

"I got it."

"Good. Now, I missed dinner because someone decided to just _drop_ in on us. So what do you say about coming back to the guild hall with me and grabbing a bite to eat."

"Sounds good."

There it was. A smile that was content. It wasn't the one of pure happiness that I wanted, but it was enough for now.

 **Juvia**

It was late. I was sitting on my bed and about to go to bed but there was something keeping me up. They weren't here. They all agreed that they weren't ready to break off and stay with us just yet, so Master Makarov is allowing them to stay at the guild hall for a while. Mira, Erza and Lisanna are staying there with them in case they need anything. I wished, for the hundredth time, that I was there as well. It didn't feel right knowing that they were back in my life but I couldn't be with them. I needed them.

There was a shifting of the bed behind me and I didn't look around. I knew it was him, and I knew that it would be the same as before. I don't know how many time I dreamed of marrying him, and now that I am, it's nothing like I hoped it would be. He didn't even want to marry me to begin with. Mira and Erza practically badgered him into it after I found out I was pregnant. And then when they were taken away from us, the only reason he stayed was because I couldn't function and he felt obligated to keep me alive. I truly hated myself for the situation.

I was about to lie down when I felt him right behind me. I stiffened and waited for him to tell me that he was going to leave, but instead he said "I need to talk to you about something."

My eyes widened as I turned to face him. He sat there in nothing but his shorts, looking at me with something I had never seen before. "What is it?" I asked him carefully.

"I'm sorry." He told me, lowering his head down.

"What are you sorry for?"

"Being such an ass to you." He looked back up at me and I saw a faint hint of tears in his eyes. "You didn't deserve the way I treated you. It was my own damn fault for getting you in the situation in the first place and then I treated you like shit."

"It wasn't your fault. I seem to recall doing my own fair share of drinking that night too."

"I know, but I should have stopped it somehow. If I had, then maybe none of the crap we went through in the last year would have happened." He slapped the bed and then grabbed my hand. "But that's not the only thing I wanted to talk to you about. I don't know when it happened, really. Somewhere between watching you while you were pregnant, and then the twins being born and then holding them for the first time, and then losing them. Seeing how devastated you were, and taking care of you and then getting them back." He dropped my hand and took my face in his hands, putting his face less than an inch from his. "Somewhere in all of that chaos, I fell in love with you."

My heart stopped. It seriously stopped, and it only started back up when he pressed his lips gently to mine. And then it was racing so fast I thought I was going to burst. He kissed me, and he did it because he wanted to. In the kiss, I could feel that he was being honest. I could feel his love for me in just one simple kiss.

He broke the kiss long enough to lay be back on the bed. I stared up at him, my heart still racing in my chest and he ran a single finger from my bottom lip down my chin and then my neck. In its wake I felt chill, and my entire body broke out of bumps by the time his one finger reached my chest and stopped between my breasts. I clenched my hands together, feeling the sheets bunching and my body gave an involuntary spasm.

He picked his finger up and then traced my ribs along my side ever so lightly, that chill following every stroke and I found my eyes closing by themselves. I forced them back open, I wanted to take in every moment of this.

I thought he was going to stop and then we would get to the main part, but he then moved to my arms, and then my stomach and back. After, he went to my legs, using his finger to trace lines all over my body. It was then I realized what he was doing. He was learning my body. Every nook and cranny, every line and curve I had was found by this man I loved. It was then I decided that I wanted the same thing. After all this time, when I finally got something I truly wanted, I couldn't let it pass me by. Using my foot, I pushed his hand up and then pushed myself up.

He gave me a confused look but then it was replaced with a smile when I motioned for us to switch places. With him on the bed, and me sitting next to him, I allowed myself to be free with him. I let my fingers roam all over him with carefree abandon. It wasn't enough for me, for I soon found myself leaning down and touching my lips in the hollow of his throat. I then trailed light kisses down his chest and across his abs and back up, ending with my lips finding his again. When he kissed me back, I was surprised again. It was even better than the first time.

I felt his hand grasp the back of my head and he turned me so that we were both on our sides, our lips still locked together. Once settled again, be broke the kiss and pulled back enough to look at me. There was something in his eyes that made things low in my stomach tighten that I didn't know could. It was a look of need, and desire, and I couldn't believe it was aimed at me. With my gaze still on his eyes, he moved his hand lower, and then all thought fled my mind.

I had never felt this fire before, it burned throughout my body and threatened to burn me from the inside out and I didn't care. He filled me more than I thought anyone could to the point that I thought I would split apart. And I didn't care. My entire world had been wrapped around this man for years without him really seeing me, and now he was truly mine.


	8. Chapter 8

**Nashi**

 _The hot air hit my face like a hard slap. My eyes burned from the sweat that poured from my head and my arms and legs were aching. There was also the sharp pain on my back from the sword that sliced me earlier, but I couldn't allow myself to falter. My opponent was still on him feet, so I had to stay on mine._

 _The air to me left changed and I did a backflip to avoid a wide swing, feeling to large blade passing just over my body in the process. I landed with a roll and then ran to the back side of the arena. He was right there with me, his breath heavy behind the face mask of his helmet. I had my back to the wall now, my tiny body pressed to it as if I were trying to push myself through it. It was only my third fight, and I was only 9 years old, I was trying to avoid doing what these people wanted me to do. I didn't want to kill him, the other two times had been accidents and I was sick for the rest of the day after, so I hoped this time could be different._

 _It wasn't though. I felt that power begin to burn inside me, coming to me when I needed it the most despite my desire to not use it. My body reacted on its own, hands thrown out in front of me, and then all I could see was fire._

I woke up with my body jerking and almost tossing me from my bed, I hadn't had that dream in a long time. It was one of the many memories I tried to push to the back of my mind. When I was young and still believed I could survive without hurting anyone there. I was so stupid back then.

I got up from my temporary bed and stretched my back out. At least I wasn't drenched with sweat this time. With the feeling in my head, though, I knew I wasn't going to be getting back to sleep anytime soon. I was about to head out and get something to drink when I noticed another body close to my bed. I sat back down and stared at her. She left with him, didn't she? We all agreed that they would give us space, right? But there she was, inches from my bed with her hand out like she was reaching for me.

I wanted to reach out for her, but then her words hit me again. In my head, the image of a woman with kind eyes flashed. And another one with the same woman, standing there while I almost died and the echoing of her words stabbing me in the chest. 'Why should I care? I am not her mother'. It was too close. She was almost like a mother to me in a time I needed one. And then she turned on me when I should have died. And I would have, if not for pops.

I pulled my legs up onto the bed and stared at her sleeping body. I could see the pain there as she slept, but still I stayed back.

" _She's confused. We all are. It's not an easy thing to believe that the infant child you have a few months ago is back with you as a teenager now."_

His words made sense to me, but I still didn't trust it. I couldn't take the betrayal again. Too many times of trusting people and then feeling that sting when they chose their own life when they promised to protect you, I never wanted to feel that again.

But still, all of the dreams I had over the years of finally meeting them cropped up in my mind. The fantasies of days in the park, swimming in the ocean, family dinners, they all came to me again and I felt the tears start and I slid down off of the bed.

I landed on the floor next to her, the hard wood under me. I touched her hand lightly and she flinched, and then wrapped her fingers around my tightly in her sleep. I expected to wake, but she never did. I felt movement behind me and turned to find the red headed woman staring at me. She smiled at me and then glided over to us, "They just couldn't stay away." She said softly.

I looked around then and saw them. All of them were there. "But, when we went to sleep…"

"I know. They snuck in about an hour ago. I tried to tell them they didn't have to stay, but Lucy was the first one to demand to leave them alone. But I wouldn't have made them leave, even if Makarov told me to."

I closed my eyes again and tried to stop the tears. Why? Why would she want to do that? I tried to pull my hand back from her, but her grasp was too tight for me to pull my hand out without waking her. She then pulled my whole arm to her and held it to her chest. I leaned back against the bed with a sigh. "I'm not going to get her to let go, am I?"

"Probably not." The woman told me with a smile. She pulled my pillow down and then placed it on the floor next to me. She then touched the top of my head and then left without another word.

I sighed and then gave up. I took the place next to the woman that held my arm. Once I was on the ground, I saw the look of pain eased back and was replaced with a slight look of happiness. I sighed again and used my free hand to pull her blanket over the two of us and closed my eyes again, willing myself back to sleep.

 **Erza**

I had to smile at them. Lucy tried so hard to talk to her earlier but Nashi refused her advances. So to see them the way they were was a good start. One time when Nashi began to twitch in her sleep, Lucy reached her arm around her daughter and pulled her in close. With that motion, Nashi calmed down with a slight whimper and then was fast asleep again.

I forced myself to turn away from them and then went back to the piece of paper that I had been staring at for over an hour now. I needed to send this message, but I just didn't know how to word it. How do you tell someone that their children were back, when they were convinced that they were dead? I put the pen to the paper and wrote a short message, not even saying the full story, just asking him to come back and that I needed to talk to him immediately. I hoped it would be enough.

I rolled the paper up and tied it, then set it to the side. I would send it in the morning, at least that's what I told myself what I would do. I wasn't sure I would have the nerve to really do it though.

I felt a hand on my arm and turned around to see Elena standing behind me. Her eyes were only half open but she held onto my arm like she was fully awake. She pulled be back to where she had been sleeping and then lay down. I was forced to lay down next to her, her grasp on my arm to tight to pull away. I wouldn't have done that anyway. As soon as my head hit her pillow, her eyes closed and she held my hand up to her face. The note would be sent in the morning.

 **Lucy**

I woke to the sensation of a body next to mine. I chanced a peek and saw her so close to me. Her face was so peaceful as she slept, and the morning sunlight that hit the top of her head cast a glow around her. She was so beautiful. I allowed myself to reach up and touch her face gently, feeling her skin under the tips of my fingers. She stirred a bit and I moved to her hair. It was soft, almost as soft as it was when she was born. I ran my fingers through a lock that had fallen on her face and then jumped slightly when I noticed her eyes were open and staring at me.

"Hello." I told her, my voice so quiet only she could hear it.

"Hi." She was just as quiet as I was, her mouth hardly moving at all.

"Did you sleep ok? I know how hard it can be to sleep in a new place sometimes."

"It was fine, I guess."

She lay there and just looked at me after that, not elaborating at all. I had the feeling that she was holding back, but I didn't want to push. I sat up and pulled her with me. "Come on. We are going to get some breakfast and then I want to show you the city." She started to protest but I held my hands up to stop her. "I'm not asking for you to tell me your life story, I just want to spend some time with you. You don't have to say a word to me if you don't want to, but I would like you to."

I could see the idea rolling around in her head, and then she nodded with a slight slump in her shoulders.

Two hours later, we were in one of the clothing shops in town. I knew she didn't have anything with her so I wanted to make sure she had at least a little more. She was standing in front of a mirror with an outfit I had picked out and a sour look on her face. "What's wrong? That looks good on you!"

"Maybe, but isn't it a little…revealing?" indeed the skirt was pretty short, but the top covered her chest and stomach and then left her arms bare. "I feel too exposed"

"Well, then we will try something else. How about this?" I held up two more pieces and she turned her nose up at them.

"I don't think so." I tossed them aside and then I had to really think about this. She said she felt exposed, so maybe she was less like me that I was hoping for. I went back to the pile that I had discarded and pulled out two different pieces and then tossed them to her.

"Try these." I said, my hands on her back as I moved her back into the dressing room.

"But I…"

"No buts, just try them."

I pulled the curtain closed and then waited. When she walked out, I couldn't hide the smile. The pants I picked out were tight, but not so much so that they reveled too much. They had a leather strap that ran up the outside of both legs, tying the sides together and giving her the illusion that she was taller than she was. The top had sleeves that came down to her wrists but with several cut-outs to show her skin underneath, but the rest of it was one piece that hugged her torso just right. The neckline hit her about two inched under her collar and had a wave to it that made the eye follow it to her shoulders. I think it was the colors that had caught my attention first though. The main color in both pieces was black but the silver threading stood out and sparkled against the stark darkness of the black, but it seemed to fit her just right.

"How do you feel about that one?"

"I think I could live with this it." She gave me a shy smile that was soon hidden behind a fringe of hair when she ducked her head down.

"Wonderful! Let's get it and then grab a snack. I still have a few places I want to show you!"

I took her to a bakery that had some of the best cupcakes in Fiore and then we sat in the shade of a large oak tree to eat our treats before moving on. I was perfectly content to let her be silent for the moment, but then she spoke up. "I have a question I've wanted to ask you for a while."

"Yeah?"

She pulled out my diary from the small of her back and held it in her lap. "You have a lot of stuff written down about you and him, but you never said anything about how the two of you got together."

I felt my face heat up. This was not something I had thought about in a while and just beginning to remember was embarrassing. "Well, that's sort of a complicated story."

"I've got time."

I couldn't say no to that face. "Well, several years ago, Natsu did something that made me angry. When I say he made me angry I don't mean I was a little pissed, I was seriously furious with him."

"What did he do?"

"I don't remember." I gave a chuckle. "I remember being furious, but I don't remember why."

 _I was livid. My entire body was trembling with the rage that was coursing through me and he just stood there like nothing was wrong. I wanted to wring his neck until he turned blue but I doubted that it would do any good._

" _What's the big deal, Lucy. It turned out fine didn't it?" He asked me, that stupid fucking grin urging the anger on even more._

" _That's not the point." I said, my voice low with the hint of a growl. "You should have known better!"_

" _I think that's a bit over his head there." Gray pipped in, his own shit-eating grin in place._

" _DON'T get in the middle of this!" my anger had turned to him and his grin slipped. With my attention on Gray, Natsu chose that moment to approach me. When I saw how close he was to me I slapped him and then shoved him away from me._

 _The look of hurt on his face satisfied something in me, and also hurt something else. "Don't touch me." My hand was still up, warding him off. "I can't do this anymore_ , _Natsu." The anger had drained from me suddenly and I was just tired. Tired of all of the arguing and of him being such an idiot._

" _Can't do what anymore?" he was hurting, I could see it plainly, and now I didn't care. I was hurting too._

" _This." That was all I said, but it was enough._

" _This? You mean the team? Or the guild?"_

 _By then we had gotten the attention of almost everyone in the guild hall. With all heads turned to me, I didn't answer him. I simply turned and walked out. Leaving him alone behind me._

 _The next morning, I went to talk with Master Makarov in his office. "Are you sure about this?" He asked, his face serious._

" _No, but I think I need to do it. I need some distance for now. I don't want to leave the guild, but I can't be around him right now."_

 _He sighed but nodded his head, understanding my request. I slipped the fingerless gloves on my hands and then stood. He stood with me, but did not follow me out of the room. By the time I was downstairs not a single person was speaking, and Natsu was blocking the bottom of the stairs._

" _I'm not letting you leave."_

" _You can't stop me, now move."_

" _No."_

 _I was on the last step, my face inches away from his and neither of us speaking. I put a hand on his chest and pushed, he didn't budge. "Move."_

" _No." He crossed his arms across his chest, resolute in standing firm._

" _NATSU!" Makarovs voice snapped in the air._

" _I can't let her do this." He told him, never taking his eyes off of me. "Not when I know she doesn't really want to."_

" _You think you know what I want?" I snapped. I poked him hard in the chest. "You don't know ANYTHING! And you never will!"_

 _He was confused by my words, and it was enough to be able to shove past him. I didn't get two steps away though because he grabbed my wrist and held me. "I know that this is your home. Am I wrong?"_

" _No, you are not wrong."_

" _Then why do you want to leave?"_

" _Why do YOU want me to stay?_

 _The question threw him off, his head popped back and he let go of me. I waited for a response and then scoffed when none came. "That's what I thought." I tried to turn around again but was caught by him, again. I started to yell but my voice was caught by his lips on mine. I stole all logic and reason from me. Never did I think he would do something like this, least of all in front of everyone._

 _When he pulled back, he whispered to me, "Is that a good enough reason?"_

" _I guess so."_

"Interesting." Nashi told me when I finished. "So he did that in front of everyone?"

"Yeah, surprised the hell out of me. But I found out later that most of the guild had a bet going to see how long it would take for us to get together." I laughed aloud "Gray lost a lot of money that day, but I think everyone else was just relieved that the tension was finally gone between us."

"So had there always been that tension?"

"Not always. At first he was just my friend, but it became more somewhere. If you ask him, he will you the same thing I'm about to tell you. Neither one of us knows when it happened, but we both agree when we finally admitted it."

"I'm glad you did."

"Me too."

We stayed in silence for a moment, listening to the birds singing in the tree above us, then she handed me the diary. "Here." She said

"Why are you giving this back?"

"Because it's yours."

I touched the top of the book and then gently pushed it back to her. "Keep it. I don't need it anymore. Besides, you've had it longer than I ever did."

She laughed but then replaced it in the small of her back. "Didn't you say there was more stuff you wanted to show me?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Nashi**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I can't believe it's been almost a month since we've been here. It feels like it was just yesterday that we were all together in that house and wondering what it would be like to be with our families. And here we are._

 _It hasn't been easy. It took us a while to be able to really open up to them, although some of us found it easier than others. Silver is still being stubborn, but Lynne and Juvia are almost inseparable. Gray has been doing his best with Silver but no matter what the moron just pushes him away. Elena is actually doing the best out of all of us. Erza has been amazing with her, so much so that Elena almost seems like she is a normal girl. If you just met her today, you would never know that she was feral just a short time ago. Of course, it helped that her father showed up a few days after we got here. I'll never forget the look on his face when he saw them. I have to smile when I think about it._

I sat up from my seat and stretched my back out. It was still hurting from the job we did yesterday. Mom kept trying to get me to see Wendy and have her heal me, but I refused. This pain was nothing, I had much worse. I flexed my hand a few times then bent back down.

 _Going on jobs is fun. We have been able to learn so much from doing them. Of course it helps that the people that we are with have magic similar to ours and they can give us pointers. My dad has been very helpful with my magic, I never thought I could be as strong as I am now. Thinking back though, he probably wishing I had Castor's power. You see, Castor inherited his father's take-over magic. But instead of the beast take-over power that his father has, well, let's just say that there were some interesting creatures in the bubble Castor was in. The first time he showed the guild his take-over I thought my dad was going to explode._

 _Mina isn't as much of a bitch anymore, she still tries to pick fights every now and then but not as much as she did before. Her mom didn't even try to calm her down, it just happened by being around her. That woman just had that effect on us, all she had to do was smile at us and we would calm down._

 _So much has happened to us, diary, that it's hard to write everything down. My nightmares are gone, and I finally feel like I have a real home. I couldn't imagine anything better than what we have now. It definitely couldn't be worse than what we have already been through. I just hoped that this wasn't some dream, because if it is, I don't ever want to wake up._

 _Well, diary, my mother is call for me. Dinner must be almost done. I'll be back later and tell you more about this last month. That is, if I can find the right words._

I put my pen down and closed the raggedy diary. I tried to give the thing back several times, but my mother kept pushing it back at me. Today was the first time I decided to write in it. There had been several times I sat down to write, but I could never find the right words, but for some reason I could today.

"Nashi!" she called to me again. I stood and pushed the chair under the small writing desk. I left my little room and shuffled into the main part of the house to see my mother still busy in the kitchen. I sighed, she did this every time. She called me like dinner was ready and getting cold but she was actually still working on it. I started to sit at the table but Happy flew up and into my face.

"NASHI! You can't sit yet!" he shouted.

"Why?" I asked, exasperated by this flying blue cat.

"Because, if you do, then she will start screaming at us! You don't want her screaming do you?" He took my face in his paws and squished my cheeks together.

"You are insane." My voice was muffled as I spoke. He leaned in to say something else to me, but stopped and flew back with a screech when a cooking utensil went flying at his head.

"Stop being such a weirdo!" My mother yelled out. I turned and saw her standing there with a hand on her hip and her other hand suspiciously empty while it hung in the air. "Why don't you go find Natsu or something!"

"Aye sir!" He gave her a salute and then shot out of the door.

My mother grumbled under her breath as she turned back to the stove and our dinner. "Do you need any help?" I asked her.

"Nope. I got it under total control." She gave me a smile as she stirred the pot of stew. I knew she would give that answer, but I asked her anyway. I did almost every night when she cooked us dinner. It didn't feel right for her to do all of the cooking, but if she wouldn't let me help then my hands were tied. I took the seat that the stupid cat told me not to take, and rested my elbows on the table. I watched my mother while she cooked. There was a peaceful look on her face as she went about it, like she was right where she wanted to be. I smiled, because I was right where I wanted to be too.

I yawned and set my head down on the table. That was odd, I shouldn't be this tired. It didn't matter, as soon as we finished eating my dad was going to take me out for some more training. I loved our training sessions. They were great work outs, and I felt so energized after. So being tired now was nothing to worry about. I heard my mom ask me something but I could just grunt. The tiredness washed over me and I couldn't move a single muscle. I could faintly hear the first patters of rain on the house and then before I knew it, I was sound asleep.

 **Silver**

I felt something cold against my face. I raised a hand up and rolled over, then wondered why I was lying on the ground. I didn't want to open my eyes, not yet. I let my mind wander back and think about the last thing I remembered. I was walking down the street with Lynne and our parents when all of a sudden I felt so tired I had to sit down. I could vaguely see Lynne a few feet away from be also sitting down on the ground and fighting to keep her eyes open. I threw a hand out to grab on to the nearest thing and when I looked over I saw that I had grabbed him.

He was looking at me with concern, and his lips moved but I heard nothing. I went to just blink, and the I was here. I needed to open my eyes. I had to know where I was.

As soon as I opened them, I closed them back, squeezing them as tightly as I could. I knew that was going to be a bad idea. I didn't know what was going on, but this was some kind of nightmare. I thought that maybe if I kept my eyes shut, then eventually I would wake up and be back with them. I couldn't be here. I felt the first hot tears slide down my face when I heard an all too familiar sound.

The room I was in was one that haunted my nightmares, with the dirt floor and the thin blanket that served as a bed. The cave-like walls surrounded me and made everything echo, just like the knock on my door.

 _Knock…..knock…knock_

The sound echoed and made my heart beat so hard I thought it would beat right out of my chest. _It isn't real!_ I said to myself. I said it over and over again, trying to convince myself that it was just another nightmare, and that I wasn't back _there._

 _Knock…knock…knock_

I raised my hands to my head and covered my hears. I couldn't hear it. That knocking that tormented me for six years, I couldn't hear it. Because it wasn't real. "It isn't real." I gritted, my mouth clenched so tightly that it was almost locked shut.

 _Creeeeeeeeeeek_

The door opened and I heard heavy footsteps come into the room. The person stopped just inside the door. I didn't look at him. "It isn't real." It was louder. I had to wake up, and soon. He took another step, and then another and another. I could hear his breathing now, he was too close to me. "It isn't REAL!" I was shouting now, I didn't even realize I could.

The tip of his foot touched the top of my head and I jerked. I jumped up and shoved myself in the corner of the room, my eyes still closed. "It isn't real…it isn't real…it isn't real…" I kept saying it over and over with my hands still over my ears. I did everything I could to deny where I was. I couldn't be here, not anymore. I was freed from this place. Pops pulled me out, and he gave me a family again. He gave me a reason to keep moving forward, so I couldn't be here.

He reached out and grabbed the collar of my shirt and lifted me to my feet. I finally opened my eyes again and looked him in the face. He was just as ugly as he was before, but for some reason now he looked even scarier than he used to. His sharpened teeth and scarred lips made me shiver, but it was the bloodthirsty look in his eyes that made my heart stutter. He touched my face briefly and the pulled one of my hands away from my ear. He leaned in close and whispered "It is real."

I felt the cold metal around my neck right before I heard the _click_ of it snapping shut. I touched it with a trembling hand and I wanted to scream. It was the collar again, the same damn collar that renders me completely useless. I have no power, I have nothing now.

I fell to my knees and threw up in the dirt. The man leaned down and took a handful of my hair. "Welcome home." He growled and the began to drag me out of my cell, screaming.

 **Pops**

 _Excellent!_ I thought to myself as I watched the ten lacrima that were spread out in front of me. Everything was coming together just as I had planned. The first part of the plan was more successful that I thought it would be, but then to be able to pull this off. It made me downright giddy. I felt the giggle build up in my throat before I could stop it. I leaned back in my chair and let the giggle turn into a full out laugh. The person standing behind me made a noise that I ignored and I continued to laugh at the stupidity and weakness of the guild Fairy Tail. They couldn't even stop me from taking their children the first time, they never stood a chance against me a second time.

"Noran" I barked at the man. "I think it's time to move to phase two." When he didn't respond I turned my chair around to look at him. He was standing there and staring at the screens. "What are you doing?"

"Sir, I'm not so sure about this idea of yours." His usually brisk way of speaking was slowed down and careful now.

"I don't recall asking for your opinion." I told him. I stood and glided over to him. I towered over him but he showed no signs of fear. He turned his eyes away from the screens and to me.

"I know, sir, but I don't think I can stand here and just watch this. Haven't they been through enough?"

I reared back and back-handed him so hard he crashed to the ground and ended up by the far wall. "You are the one who suggested I use these worlds! YOU MADE THEM!" I screamed at him. I picked him up and slammed him back into the wall. "You are the reason they are they to begin with!" I snarled in his face.

"No, sir." He strained to get out. "You are the reason they are there."

I squeezed his throat with the rage pouring through my veins. "You will not ruin this for me!" his face started to turn a bright red, and then it turned lighter. He struggled with my hands around his neck, scratching at them to get them off, but I was much too strong for him. I squeezed even harder and watched his face get lighter. His lips turned a nice shade of blue and then he stopped struggling. I let go and he fell hard to the ground.

I stood there for a moment and took a few deep breaths. _It's ok!_ I told myself. _It's just a slight hiccup._ I lifted my head and closed my eyes. The feeling of joy slowly returned to me as I remembered that I didn't actually need him. The things that he was supposed to do could be done by others. It was just easier to have him do them. No matter.

I moved back to the lacrima and then gathered them up. I placed them inside a box and then I left the room. I would have to do the next part myself it seemed. It was time.

It was time to make Fairy Tail suffer again.


End file.
